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Did the Qumran community predict the coming of Jesus?

...stion of messianic identity: what will the signs of the true Messiah be? Jesus answers: Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the glad tiding preached to them (Luke 7:22-23 and Matthew 11:4-5). This reply is cast in the style of a precise formula. It reflects a very early Christian expectation of the signs of the messianic age and the marks for identification of the Messiah. One indication that we have here a very early Christian tradition is that these passages from Luke and Matthew come from the source scholars have d...

Evidence of the Trinity in the Hebrew Scriptures

...Table of Contents Jewishness and the Trinity 1. God Is A Plurality The Name Elohim Plural Verbs used with Elohim The Name Eloah Plural Pronouns Plural Descriptions of God The Shema II. God Is At Least Two Elohim and YHVH Applied to Two Personalities III. God Is Three How Many Persons Are There? The Three Personalities in the Same Passage Conclusion New Testament Light I was recently in some discussions/debates online about the nature of God and whether the "Trinity" exists, or if God is purely singular and exists in different forms rather than different persons.   This idea that God has different "forms" or "mod...

The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 2

...for a non-messianic Rabbi to be using Matthew as his source, taking a saying of Jesus from it and equating or replacing Jesus with the Shekhinah, especially in the presence of other parallels that have less correlation with Matthew 18:20. As a result most scholars agree that this is based on an earlier Jewish tradition, one from which these later rabbinic sayings were derived. These later rabbinic traditions and the similarity to what Jesus says in Matthew 18:20 suggest that in this saying Jesus is not only claiming omnipresence — a unique attribute of Yahweh but also identifying his presence as the divine presence of God. I will conclude with a quote fro...

The Coming of Jesus: The Olivet Discourse – Part 1

...o claimed messianic roles and divine authority to save Israel from impending doom in miraculous ways. These men failed, the miracles and prophecies didn't happen, and they and their followers were killed by the Roman soldiers. Flavius Josephus, "Wars of the Jews" Book 2 chapter 13 Another body of wicked men also sprung up, cleaner in their hands, but more wicked in their intentions, who destroyed the peace of the city no less than did these murderers [the Sicarii]. For they were deceivers and deluders of the people, and, under pretense of divine illumination, were for innovations and changes, and prevailed on the multitude to act like madmen, and went before...

Unveiling the Trinity: Exploring the Nature of Jesus and the Incarnation

...I recently received a question about the nature of Jesus and the incarnation, which delves into the mystery of the Trinity: "Sorry to trouble you, but I have only one question: Is God the Father and Jesus His Son the same, God Himself in the flesh when He walked the earth? I am still struggling with this concept. When Jesus asked His Father, was He essentially talking to Himself?" Thanks so much for the question, and it is a good question when asked genuinely. It is obviously a very deep and complex topic that covers a lot of Scripture (and history) to fully make sense of, but I’ll try and keep this brief to cover the key points. To gain a better unders...

Melchizedek to Jesus: The Divine Thread of Bread and Wine

...ks to the messianic prophecy of Jesus being the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). The connection between Melchizedek being the king of Salem and Jesus being in the lineage of David, who reigned in Jerusalem, ties the notion of peace directly into the divine narrative. Melchizedek’s role as a king and priest in the city of peace prefigures the ultimate role of Jesus as Messiah. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, not only fulfils the royal lineage through King David but also the priestly order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 7:2–3 elaborates on Melchizedek’s name and title, explaining that Melchizedek “means ‘king of righteousness’; next, he is also king of Salem, that...